Nikita Maskakult: Bike fit, blogging without money and why racing is the best workout

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Useful from the issue

1. It's better to go to the race than not to go

   Don't expect the perfect shape. If there is no motivation for the result, go through the race as a training session: hold on as long as you can, and try attacks.

2. Bike fit — base first

   A good first session exposes the basic fit, and subtle edits are made after getting used to it. Immediately twisted perfect fit can hurt.

3. Asymmetry will not be corrected by one bike fit

   If you've been sitting crookedly for years or doing one-sided sports, you can't sit on a bicycle without physical therapy.

4. Choose shoes by millimeters

   The foot changes with age. See the insole length in millimeters, leave a small margin and pick up the arch support.

5. One power meter for all workouts

   Measuring devices from different brands show differently, especially on short efforts. Train on one system and align the trainer and bike with a coefficient.

6. Rate FTP more modestly

   Training a little below is better than overestimating zones. If 20 minutes are given at 295 watts, the real hourly threshold can be noticeably lower.

7. Don't trust the load from the applications

   After the criterion with dozens of jerks, the legs are killed, and the services write about a small load. Focus on how you feel.

8. Consistency is more important than volume

   A stable ten hours a week all year gives more than jerks and dips. You can progress without huge volumes.

9. MTB-spikes on gravel — normal

   On a gravel race, where sometimes you have to run, MTB shoes are more reliable and do not give noticeable disadvantages.

Criteria, falls and plans for the season

Nikita has just returned from the micro-criteria in Zelenograd, where he fell on the same side three times, and explains why professionals go down after falls that look like a couple of abrasions from the outside: the body refuses to work after a blow. He recalls with nostalgia the Moscow criteria, which were no longer held because of the small quorum, although the format, in his opinion, is the most spectacular and teaches you how to drive a bike the best.

The main goal of the season is the Spanish gravel race Traka, and if he gets a longer visa, then a gravel race in the Netherlands with selection for the World Championships. He's grown bored with road cycling: it's not worth traveling far for just one four-hour race, and he says there's soul in gravel. Nikita promises to come to Tsar Grader for 250 km. Together with his friends, he organizes his own race MODDER — short but tough, with sections where you have to get off your bike, and this year he promises a proper race results with timing.

How to leave work in cycling

Nikita left his job at the most unstable moment, when he was already blogging. At first, he lived on a penny, set up a free landing for friends to fill his hand, and wrote to the organizers with requests for slots. The turning point was the video from the criterion on Dvortsovaya Street, which gathered more than a hundred thousand views, and victories at the races: the blog turned out to be in an empty niche and helped bike Fit to become a real income.

Now the main income is bike fit: over the past couple of years, according to his estimates, at least 350 people have passed through it. The workshop managed to keep itself afloat for the first year, survived the winter and launches bicycle rental. There were 12-15 training students compared to five last summer. His day starts with a workout: if he's turned it around in the morning, the day will go fine.

Why doesn't the bike blog feed you

According to Nikita, it is almost impossible to monetize a cycling blog in Russia. The installation of one video can take a whole working day, a trip to the race costs money, and the video will collect several thousand views. He recalls how even the famous Dutch bike blogger quit filming because it didn't bring income. The cycling audience is an order of magnitude smaller than the running one, and merch is sold in units: he sold about seven to eight sets of uniforms.

A trip to Traka, according to his calculations, costs about 300-350 thousand rubles, accommodation in Girona on race days is expensive even in a hostel. It is difficult to find sponsors, and this year he almost did not search for them, having gone deeper into the workshop. The result of the conversation with Ilya is that cycling is now a matter for the sake of the movement, not for the sake of money.

What should be a bike fit

Nikita's bike fit costs 8.5 thousand in St. Petersburg and 10 thousand in Moscow, the session lasts at least an hour and a half. First, he sets up a basic fit and looks at how a person gets used to it, and makes subtle edits later: it can even be harmful to immediately build an ideal fit with many corrections. He studied in a studio that compiled its race results from several systems, and read a lot of foreign literature, including analysis of real cases.

The most difficult thing is to work with people who have been sitting crookedly at a computer for years or are engaged in one-sided sports: without physical therapy, they cannot sit up straight. Nikita honestly talks about two refunds: in one case he could not help the client with asymmetry, in the other he did not check the take-out delay, and the client fell. He considers standard electronic landing systems useful for basic setup, but not for experienced athletes who need a non-standard approach.

Meters, FTP and training

Nikita compared several power meters on the same bike and saw noticeably different graphs, especially during short efforts. On gravel, he feels that vibration causes some power to be lost. He therefore advises his athletes to train with one meter and use a calibration factor to align readings from the trainer and the bike. In his view, a power meter is useful for anyone training seriously throughout the year: outdoors, it takes the guesswork out of a session because you know exactly what to do.

FTP should be evaluated more modestly: if 295 watts goes out for 20 minutes, then the hourly power is rather about 273. It does not set short efforts of up to five minutes in watts, but lets you go to the maximum. Nikita does not take the load that the applications consider seriously: after the criterion with dozens of jerks, the legs do not work, and the service writes that the load is small. He himself rides 8-10 hours a week, and calls consistency the main factor of progress — as an example, he cites a rider who has been steadily training ten hours a week all year.

Shoes, stretching, sauna and recovery

Shoes, Nikita admits, he wore a size smaller for a long time, until he realized that the foot changes with age. Now his racing shoes are half a size bigger, even more for long trips, and he chooses them by length in millimeters and with individual arch support. At gravel races, he calmly rides on MTB spikes and does not see any disadvantages in this.

After two months of extensive work in Turkey, he has reached the best shape in his life and associates this, among other things, with regular stretching and a percussion massager. He goes to the bath less often: he noticed that after it he began to get sick. Instead of soda, he drinks non-alcoholic beer, but he tried mildronate and did not feel any effect.

Gravel boom, accidents and the question of brevet

Gravel in Russia, according to the observation of the interlocutors, has grown in a couple of years so that the calendar can be filled with gravel races without leaving the country. Nikita remembers several accidents: a serious one at the beginning of his career, after which he sued money and bought a new bike, and courier stories with open doors and taxi drivers. Of the professionals, he likes the universal racer, who is haunted by bad luck and eternal second places, and he considers cyclocross to be the most spectacular kind. Ilya tells about the Novgorod cyclocross on March 15, where there were about 90 spectators and a bicycle was played.

The issue closes with the question of why "Tsar Grader" is a race, and not a brevet. The answer is simple: there are winners in the race and the goal is to arrive first, and on the beam the task is simply to overcome the distance. Nikita adds his main advice: the race is the best training, and if there is no form or motivation, it can be passed as a training session.

Timestamps

1. 00:00How are you and the race in Zelenograd
2. 03:27Nostalgia for the criteria
3. 09:08Bets for the season: Traka and the Netherlands
4. 12:41"Tsar Grader" and MODDER
5. 19:48Coaching and daily routine
6. 28:50The path to blogging and Bike fit
7. 32:57What about the money
8. 46:09Bike fit: price and approach
9. 55:33Errors in Bike fit
10. 59:19Sponsors and Traka
11. 1:10:20Training and volumes
12. 1:19:25Power meters
13. 1:29:26Stories about road accidents
14. 1:37:22Baths and stretching
15. 2:09:04Why "Tsar Grader" is a race, and not a brevet

Mentioned in this episode

Traka · Tsar Grader · MODDER · Fury Road · Strava · Intervals.icu · Rapha · Garmin Vector · Quarq